Rainy Weekends
by Lady Karina
Summary: Alex is left in charge when the adults are away, but what he didn't expect is for a thunderstorm to start... Alex's POV
1. Default Chapter

Rainy Weekends  
  
I have been sitting on this couch for almost and hour now. Mallory has been on the phone longer then my patience has cared to hold for my entire life, yet here I am staring at the words "stocks decreasing" and am beginning to feel my blood boil.  
  
"Oh Nick I totally agree with you!" She chirps. I swear someday I am going to strangle her. "Your sculpture will totally win the contest, don't worry about it honey." She pauses to take a breath. I can almost hear her lungs screaming. "Yes. Ahuh. Ok dear. Call me later! I love you too, bye!" Oh to finally hear the receiver being put down. My eyes gaze from the page to Mal standing by the desk. Great, she has one of her dream faces on.  
  
"Oh, Alex." She sighs.  
  
"Oh, Mal." My patience was lost twenty minutes before. I'm not in the mood for this. I stand up and walk over to the phone only to be pushed out of the way by yet another sister. This family is full of too many teenagers. I am getting really aggravated here.  
  
"Jen, what are you doing? I've been waiting all day, I need to use the phone!"  
  
"Come on Alex. I'm only calling Greg. It won't be long." Sure. Only four hours of pain and despair of me having to look at the depressing page of "stocks decreasing". What happened to the days when she thought boys had cooties?  
  
"Jen, I have been sitting on that couch for a lot longer then you have. Just give me the phone." I would have loved to say 'give me the damn phone' but that's not the example I'm supposed to set.  
  
"But, Alex!" She whines.  
  
"Now." She reluctantly hands me the phone. Mom and Dad are gone for the weekend so I'm in charge. She knows she doesn't have a chance against me. Heh, smart kid. Mal moved over to the window is watching the rain fall. It has been raining a lot. Odd. I dial Ellen's number.  
  
"Hello?" she questions. It's nice to hear her voice again after having to endure Mallory's screeches for so long.  
  
"Hey, It's Alex. I -" A flash of lightening just crossed the sky followed shortly by a roll of clapping thunder. Damn I hate storms.  
  
"Alex, did you hear that?" she inquires.  
  
"Yeah, It's been getting pretty loud lately."  
  
"Hey Alex, do you mind if I come over? I don't like being alone during storms." I smile to myself. No parents and Ellen. Minus the girls and it would have been a lovely night.  
  
"Sure, that'd be fine. It's just the girls and me right now though."  
  
"Oh that's ok Alex, see you soon!"  
  
"Sure, see you." I hang up. Mal eyes me suspiciously. Could it be due to the possibility that I'm grinning like a lunatic? Nah.  
  
"Ellen's coming over in a bit." I simply state. I think my grinning is getting to Mal. She's edging towards the kitchen. Mental Note: Grin more often.  
  
"Alright I'll just be uh. studying in the kitchen." She's through the door now. I snicker to myself.  
  
"Good luck with that studying, Mal."  
  
I turn around to walk towards the couch, only there's no couch there. Not a power failure now! Not when I'm in charge.  
  
"ALEX!" Mallory screams and runs into Jen on her way towards the living room. "THE LIGHTS ARE ALL OUT!"  
  
"I'm aware of that Mallory." Sigh. Dad's the one who usually deals with this sorta thing. Even in the dark I can tell Jen's rolling her eyes. "Alright first things first, we need to be able to see. Jen, you try and fix the circuit breaker. I'll get the candles. Mal, you have to let go of my arm."  
  
Mal quickly lets go. Good thing its dark otherwise she might of made a comment about that. Another low rumble passes and I flinch. Why'd mom and dad go on vacation in this weather?  
  
"Right." Jem mutters. I slowly see the dim outline of her figure exit the room. I follow suit only towards the kitchen with Mal right behind me.  
  
"Alex, I really don't like this." Mal mutters.  
  
"Don't worry Mal we'll just get the candles and then we can see again." I grope around in the drawers looking for some matches until I stumble across a few. Mal hands me a candle and I light it. Sadly, the light only alluminates a small amount of the darkness. Mal looks as pale as a ghost.  
  
"Mal, maybe you better sit down."  
  
"No." She commands. I bet a little firmer then she intended out of fright.  
  
"It's ok. I mean, I'm fine."  
  
"Alright whatever you say, Mal." I continue lighting candles and Mal silently places a few around the kitchen before we head towards the living room with more. Jen heads back toward us.  
  
"It's no use Alex we've gotta wait for the power company to fix it." What a splendid evening this would be.  
  
"Alright then we'll just have to make the best of it as we are. Here place these around the downstairs." I hand her a couple of candles. "Ellen should be here any minute and she's already nervous about staying at her own apartment so let's make this as comfortable as we can for her."  
  
I knew my stocks decreasing were an omen.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
What do you think? Good? Bad? Is it worth continuing? Review and let me know! -Lady Karina 


	2. Unexpected Guests

Mal and Jen are huddled on the sofa under mom and dads bedspread. And what about me? Well I'm just holding my chair in a death grip eyeing the clock every few minutes or so. Was that a noise outside? Me? Paranoid? Hell yes.  
  
I make my way toward the window and peer out. My heart quickening its pace all the while.  
  
"Is that Ellen out there Alex?" Mallory asks. Yes of coarse its Ellen! Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Keaton. It has to be Ellen she was coming over after all. Her car's lights are coming into view as she pulls in front of our driveway. Of coarse there could always be the possibility that a madman with a chainsaw will come out and kill us all, but we'll leave that possibility out considering that the madman is driving a red convertible.  
  
"WAAAAAHHHHH" I blink. I had totally forgotten about Andy.  
  
"I'll get him." I mutter. I blindly ascend the stairs towards Andy's room. How could he sleep through the power outage and not when there's peace?  
  
I open the door to his room and hear Mal greeting Ellen from downstairs. I pick up Andy. He seems fine. Maybe he's just hungry. "Alright champ, let's go get some grub." I carry him downstairs and he stops crying. Ellen is waiting for me at the bottom. She looks beautiful minus the fact she's drenched.  
  
"You look like you've just gone swimming. Is it really that bad out there?" Another Boom crosses the sky and Ellen sighs.  
  
"Yeah, my power got knocked out as well." She says while admiring the arranged candles.  
  
I walk towards the kitchen with Andy and Ellen follows.  
  
"Would you mind getting the baby food out of the cabinet?" I question.  
  
"Oh sure." She responds before looking through the drawers and picking out some mashed carrots. I glare at them. I never really approved of those foods. They just don't seem good enough for MY brother. Oh well it's all we have, given dad works at PBS.  
  
No I will NOT stray onto that topic today.  
  
"Alex?" Er.right, Ellen.  
  
"Yeah just bring it over here." We walk towards the table and I set Andy down and begin feeding him. Ellen smiles at me.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh nothing it's just kind of like were playing house, only for real though." She's too emotional. Alright, alright it is kind of nice to think about it that way.  
  
I finish feeding Andy and he seems content so we head again towards the living room. I place him in his crib and we move over to the now vacant sofa. I hold her closely in my arms. If only every day could be like this.  
  
"He-ey Alex. How's my little friend?" Oh no. No, no, no, no, NO. What is HE doing here? I glance towards Nick who's standing by Mal at the door. Ellen immediately sits up.  
  
"Could be better, Nick." I reply coolly before sending a glare towards Mal.  
  
"Well, I was thinking," She begins  
  
"That's a first." I interrupt.  
  
She ignores me and continues, "that since Alex invited Ellen over Nick should join us and it could be kind of a party!" I stare in disbelief for a few minutes before heavily sighing.  
  
"Alright Mal. Nick can stay. Might as well get Skippy over here as well." Three, two, one.  
  
"Oh thank you Alex!" She throws herself on me with her arms around my neck. Ellen smiles warmly as I pat Mal awkwardly. Jen walks over to the closet to get her coat.  
  
"I'll get Skippy." She pulls her coat on and opens the door only to be greeted with Skippy standing there already in his Pajamas.  
  
"Hey there Keatons!" He greets us.  
  
"Uh, Skippy?" I question, "Why are you here?"  
  
He grins sheepishly before giving us an explanation. "Well I saw Ellen and Nick come in and I figured I'd come to see what all the commotion was about." I raise my eyebrows. It seems logical enough for Jen and I so she invites him in. He steps inside and takes a seat on the couch between Ellen and I, much to my disapproval.  
  
I blink realizing something before I survey the scene: Four teenagers, two young adults, and one baby in an empty house. No parents and no electricity. This was going to be a long night is an understatement.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Well this fic actually took an unexpected turn. I surprised even myself when I brought in Nick and Skippy but I think they might actually help. Sorry if it did seem a bit dull but things will get better now that we've added more characters. Thanks for the reviews Ties Fans! I've already started chapter 3! 


	3. Monopoly anyone?

I walk down the stairs throwing on a robe over my maroon pajamas. Mal though it would be a good idea if we all got into our nightclothes and played a game downstairs to distract us from the storm outside. She brought Ellen one of her spare outfits and Nick something of Dads since I refused to give my own up and it would never have fit Nick anyway. Dad wouldn't be too pleased if he heard about that. We vowed to never let him hear of this night. He does trust us but I'm not too sure what his reaction would be if he learned Nick had stayed over. Possibly a mix of what happened the time I turned the house into a hotel and when I sold his AT&T stock…

I'd rather not think about that.

I skip the last step of the stairs out of habit and walk into the living room. The table Mal set up is decorated with our old Monopoly game and I'm disgusted to see Nick handling the money so poorly. Wait a minute; did he just give Mal an extra _hundred_?

"Alright, alright, if I'm forced to play this game at least I get to be the banker." I step forward and snatch the money from Nick's hand before taking a seat in my favorite chair nearest to the door. Although its cold, it'll probably be a bonus because I'm bound to run out of the house eventually after having to spend the whole evening with this group of non-financial people.

"Alex, you always get to be the banker." Jen whines.

"Hey that's ok Jen, he can be the banker. I don't know nothing about this monopoly money anyway." Nick says.

Let alone real money.

After distributing the money out (including giving myself a 20 bonus. I deserve some credit here for doing all the work) The youngest, being Jen, reaches for the dice…until I grab for them first.

"Why don't we play so that the people who are going to be the most financially successful in life go first?" I leave out the part about people who make squat not playing.

Everyone stares at me in disgust. Fine, fine, it was worth a try.

So Jen grabs the dice again, jeez, picky picky…. 6. 1, 2, 3, 4…I'm going to go insane. Okay, 6. She moves the dog 6. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and I see Ellen gracefully walk into the room. I can't explain it but suddenly I feel very possessive. I mean she's beautiful as always but… oh wait, she's walking over here. We creatively learn to sit together on my chair involving Ellen using the arms as a footrest but I won't go into too much detail. It is a bit embarrassing with all these people here. I'm not one for displaying affection but I just can't refuse Ellen. And, why is everyone looking at me?

"Alex, it's your turn!" Mal reminds me. Oh yeah.

"Ellen can roll for me."

"Yeah since you too seem to be a bit busy." Remarks my lovely brunette sister.

"You're one to talk." She and Nick are getting a bit too comfortable on the couch. Mal scrunches her face up at me.

And Ellen rolls, earning me a 10. I land on some random estate, and Ellen buys it for me. Usually I'd be checking out all of the prices and benefits and housing on each card but Ellen's in control and I'm becoming slightly flushed after she kisses me.

"Will you guys just puh-lease get a room." Jen says. I look up noticing Mal and Nick happened to be in the same predicament as Ellen and I.

"It's alright Jen, we can still have a fun time playing even without them." Skippy says.

"You know…that's a good idea Jen." I say and surprise myself when I pick up Ellen and start ascending the stairs. Surprisingly she's very light. I smirk, finally having an excuse to leave the room hosting the couple with the titles of Dumb and Dumber.

"Bye!" Ellen waves cheerfully to the group.

"You guys better not try anything!" Jen shouts at the foot of the stairs. Yeah, yeah.

In the hallway I lean against the door to my room and set Ellen down on the bed. She smiles her brilliant smile at me. I take a seat next to her and lean in for another kiss. Its these kind of environments where I don't mind showing affection for her. Our faces inch closer when suddenly another boom and flash cross the sky and Ellen draws back.

"This isn't the most romantic atmosphere, Alex." She says with a sigh. Hey it's not my fault there's a storm.

"I know. I know. But we're alone aren't we?" I lean in again, but she moves aside.

"Why don't we just talk instead?" Well… talking's good too, right?

"Okay, fine, sure." I say a bit too quickly. "Let's talk. So what did you want to talk about?" Let it not be our relationship please let it not be our relationship…

"I'm worried about you Alex." O... kay. I raise my eyebrows at her but she continues before I get a chance to speak.

"You have such a hard time expressing any affection for me in public." I gawk. How could she possibly say that after our completely open demonstration downstairs?

"Hey come on, give me a little credit here. You mean you didn't like all that kissing?"

"You're so stiff Alex. You need to loosen up." Oh come on don't ignore me now. I feel my eyes narrow and I stubbornly turn away. "Plus that was just your family." She adds.

"I just don't feel the need to publicly exploit our relationship, okay?" Alright so I am a bit defensive. I feel her hand on my back gently tracing, and suddenly flinch.

"I understand that Alex." She says softly. "But do you think you could try to be more open about us?" She's making me melt again. I sigh and lie down; she joins me and we face nose to nose.

"It's hard for me." I finally say.

"I know."

"I'll try." She kisses me in the dark.


End file.
